Volunteers at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., are gearing up to answer phone calls and emails from children around the world checking on Santaâs whereabouts during the North American Aerospace Defense Commandâs âNORAD Tracks Santaâ event Dec. 24. In this photo, taken Dec. 24, 2011, in the NORAD Tracks Center operations center, more than 1,200 volunteers keep the tradition that started in 1955 alive. They answered almost 102,000 telephone calls and 7,721 emails over a 23-hour period. (Contributed photo/ U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Thomas J. Doscher)

Everyone knows Santa Claus has legions of elves and eight
tiny reindeer to help him in his mission to deliver toys to good boys and girls
around the world. What you may not know is there are hundreds of
behind-the-scenes volunteers who help him in his work, too.

Since 1995, more than 1,200 volunteers from the North
American Aerospace Defense Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado have
spent Christmas Eve helping Santa and little children around the world. NORAD
serves as the official Santa Claus tracker, a duty that Army Gen. Charles H.
Jacoby Jr., commander of NORAD, takes seriously. With typical military
precision, Gen. Jacoby held a conference call with Santa earlier this week.

Jacoby assures Saint Nick that he and Canadian Air Force Lt.
Gen. J. A. J. Parent, the NORAD deputy commander, "want to make sure you have
everything you need to deliver gifts to all the good boys and girls."

"We at NORAD are ready to make sure that you are tracked and
safe when traveling around the world and when you enter North American
airspace," Jacoby told Santa. "From the time you leave the North Pole until the
time you get back, we are going to keep an eye on you to make sure you are
safe."

Parent explained how NORAD will rally its detection and
monitoring capabilities to track Santa's worldwide journey. Arctic experts will
monitor ice floes and shipping lanes near the North Pole, and weather teams
will stay on top of weather patterns to help his navigation. Tracing the
infrared signature from Rudolph's nose, satellite operators will follow the
sleigh's flight. Radars stretching across Canada and Alaska and on Aegis
cruisers at sea will signal when Santa leaves the North Pole and approaches North
America.

"We are going to make
sure you get to every house. Don't worry about the journey," Jacoby tells
Santa. Evoking the NORAD and Northcom motto, he adds, "We've got the watch."

NORAD began tracking Santa this morning at 5 a.m.

NORAD's Santa Tracker is growing in popularity. Last year,
the Santa website had 18.9 million visitors. On Dec. 24 alone, NORAD volunteers
took 102,000 phone calls and responded to 8,000 emails on Santa's whereabouts.

NORAD first became involved with helping Santa in 1995 when
a local newspaper misprinted the phone number for children to call Santa. Air
Force Col. Harry Shoup, a father himself, was on duty when the calls started
coming in to what was then the Continental Air Defense Command Operations
Center. Rather than turning the children away, Shoup played along, offering
assurance that Santa was on track to make his scheduled deliveries.

Now, NORAD offers updates on Santa's whereabouts by phone,
online at http://www.noradsanta.org/en/track.html
, through Facebook and Twitter and through mobile apps. Its website offers
reports in eight languages.

This year, Marisa Novobilski, lead coordinator, is expecting
the highest participation ever. "In the past few years, the growth has been
amazing," she said. "We want to take that to the next level, reaching even more
people."